Grass For His Pillow is the second novel in Lian Hearn's popular and acclaimed fantasy/adventure series Tales of the Otori. Focusing on the feudal intrigues of rival clans of samurai warlords in a Japan-like land known only as 'The Three Countries', the series mainly follows two central characters; the conflicted and almost super-human assassin Lord Takeo, and the abused, cursed and strong-willed Lady Kaede - lovers seperated by rigid codes of class and Takeo's own ambiguous loyalties.
This book picks up almost immediately from the end of Across the Nightingale Floor. Takeo has joined with the mysterious and ammoral group known only as The Tribe, and this book does a lot to answer all the questions we might have asked ourselves about them in the first book. Kaede, on the other hand, returns to her homelands to find them in ruin and her half of the book is about her own self-actualisation, her growing thirst for power and her general transformation from naive young girl to responsible adult as she takes up the reigns of her native clan.
A lot more is filled in about the Three Countries themselves and we learn more about the caste system that is mostly only implied in the previous book - we learn exactly how the Tribe fit in around the warring clans, about the outcastes (a kind of peasant class akin to the Untouchable class in Hindu culture), and more about the clans and the changing nature of their relationships with one another and the ongoing evolution of the Three Countries. Nothing is shunned or left out... much realism is added through the inclusion of homosexuality, as well as Hearn's acknowledgement of certain human weaknesses that would normally be overlooked by books about honour codes and the like.
Unfortunately this book isn't too concerned with a story unto itself, it's more about setting up a bigger story for events to come in the third book, The Brilliance of the Moon... the introduction of a prophecy and the colouring of the various religions practiced throughout the Three Countries, as well as the added information about the outcastes and Kaede's changing status and her questioning of feudal sexual politics - these things all point towards the next book and the bigger picture. Takeo's half of the book is interesting in it's expansion of the story but (despite containing the more action-orientated sequences) it didn't engage me the way that Kaede's story did... her rebellion against the traditional role of a female in this kind of society (and story) was far more interesting and motivating, and it made for quicker reading whenever her parts came up (the opposite was the case for me in the first book, where Takeo's story was the more interesting of the two!)
So I can't really reccomend this book on it's own to anyone, it isn't stand-alone but if you liked the first book, Across the Nightingale Floor, then you'll eat this one up too. This series looks to be the sort that you have to read in it's entireity though. What can I say? Sometimes the best series are of that nature.
This book picks up almost immediately from the end of Across the Nightingale Floor. Takeo has joined with the mysterious and ammoral group known only as The Tribe, and this book does a lot to answer all the questions we might have asked ourselves about them in the first book. Kaede, on the other hand, returns to her homelands to find them in ruin and her half of the book is about her own self-actualisation, her growing thirst for power and her general transformation from naive young girl to responsible adult as she takes up the reigns of her native clan.
A lot more is filled in about the Three Countries themselves and we learn more about the caste system that is mostly only implied in the previous book - we learn exactly how the Tribe fit in around the warring clans, about the outcastes (a kind of peasant class akin to the Untouchable class in Hindu culture), and more about the clans and the changing nature of their relationships with one another and the ongoing evolution of the Three Countries. Nothing is shunned or left out... much realism is added through the inclusion of homosexuality, as well as Hearn's acknowledgement of certain human weaknesses that would normally be overlooked by books about honour codes and the like.
Unfortunately this book isn't too concerned with a story unto itself, it's more about setting up a bigger story for events to come in the third book, The Brilliance of the Moon... the introduction of a prophecy and the colouring of the various religions practiced throughout the Three Countries, as well as the added information about the outcastes and Kaede's changing status and her questioning of feudal sexual politics - these things all point towards the next book and the bigger picture. Takeo's half of the book is interesting in it's expansion of the story but (despite containing the more action-orientated sequences) it didn't engage me the way that Kaede's story did... her rebellion against the traditional role of a female in this kind of society (and story) was far more interesting and motivating, and it made for quicker reading whenever her parts came up (the opposite was the case for me in the first book, where Takeo's story was the more interesting of the two!)
So I can't really reccomend this book on it's own to anyone, it isn't stand-alone but if you liked the first book, Across the Nightingale Floor, then you'll eat this one up too. This series looks to be the sort that you have to read in it's entireity though. What can I say? Sometimes the best series are of that nature.
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